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Anthony Cobos is a politician from the State of Texas in the United States. He
currently serves as the El Paso County Judge. Judge Cobos is also a
former member of the El Paso City Council. El Paso
County, Texas is located on the border of the United States and
Mexico. Judge Cobos is
currently under investigation by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI).

Contents

Background

Judge Cobos was born in El Paso, and raised on a farm near Anthony,
New Mexico. He is married to Leticia Juarez Cobos and together
they have five children. Judge Cobos has been active in local
politics for many years and owns several local businesses.

Political
philosophy

During his campaign for election as county judge, Judge Cobos
stressed his desire to run a leaner, more efficient county
government. This philosophy is summed by his campaign pledge: "No
New Taxes". A strong fiscal conservative, Judge Cobos has also
taken a hard line against issuing new governmental debt without
voter approval.

In Texas, state law permits local governments to issue a form of
debt known as Certificates of Obligation (COs). This type of debt
was originally designed to be used in extreme emergencies, like
floods or earthquakes, when a government would not have time to
hold a bond election. In Judge Cobos' opinion, certificates of
obligation should only be used for these types of emergencies.
Recently, however, local government all across Texas have begun to
issue COs for all sorts of projects that have nothing to do with
emergencies.

In most local governments, including El Paso County, debt
service forms a large part of the operating budget. Judge Cobos has
maintained a consistent viewpoint throughout his career that
voters, not elected officials, should make the determination about
how much debt should be incurred by a community.

City Council
years

Judge Cobos was elected to represent District 8 of the El Paso
City Council in 2001 and re-elected to a second two year term in
2003. Judge Cobos was chosen by his colleagues on City Council to
serve as Mayor Pro-Tempore. In El Paso, the Mayor Pro-Tempore
serves as Mayor when the elected Mayor is out of town and unable to
fulfill his or her duties. Judge Cobos' second term on City Council
was marked by his close relationship with Mayor Joe Wardy and his
continued fight against the use of certificates of obligation for
non-emergency uses.

Cobos' tenure on City Council was also notable for his very
close association with the Bowling family, owner of Tropicana
Homes. There was a general perception that Cobos frequently
advanced the business interests of the Bowling family, even to the
extent of actively undermining projects undertaken by rivals in the
building industry, such as Ike Monte.[1] It was
Cobos' close association with the Bowlings (and their considerable
campaign contributions to him) that was a major factor in his
defeat when he sought re-election to a third term in 2005.

Cobos was defeated by Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke, son of
former El Paso County Judge Pat O'Rourke and the son-in-law of
William "Bill" Sanders, in 2005. Soon after the 2005 City Council
Election Cobos began planning for a political come back.

2006
County Judge Election

In late 2005, Judge Cobos began his campaign for El Paso County
Judge. In Texas, the County Judge is an administrative, not a
judicial, office. The County Judge serves as the presiding officer
of the County Commissioners Court. In essence, a Texas County Judge
serves as the "mayor" of his or her county.

A lifelong Democrat, Cobos
entered the Democratic primary with five challengers. The most
prominent among them was Barbara Perez, a former El Paso County
Commissioner and trustee of Socorro Independent
School District in El Paso. No Republican candidates
filed for election as County Judge, so the Democratic Primary would
decide the next El Paso County Judge. The incumbent judge declined
to run for re-election.

After a difficult primary general election, it was determined
that Cobos and Perez would face each other in a run-off election to
determine the winner. Cobos won with 11,747 votes to Perez's 9,919
votes. Judge Cobos took office January 1, 2007.

Even after his election as County Judge, Cobos was still
smarting from his loss to Beto O'Rourke, which was largely
attributable to the perception that he was much too cozy with
special interests. In an attempt to change this perception, Cobos
announced to the El Paso Times, "This is a political rebirth for
me. There is a big difference between where I am now and where I
was three years ago. I will no longer be manipulated, blinded and
influenced by special interests."[2] This
statement only reinforced the belief among Cobos' critics that
Cobos' primary purpose in serving on City Council was to benefit
special interests.

Record as
County Judge

Judge Cobos is currently under investigation by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) for involvement in public corruption
charges involving several high-profile citizens and organizations
in El Paso. His office, along with the offices of two County
Commissioners (Miguel Teran and Luis Sarinana) and the homes of
Commissioner Teran and a member of the board of managers of R.E.
Thomason Hospital (Arturo Duran), was searched by the FBI for
evidence of crimes involving bribery and mail and wire fraud.

Judge Cobos has also come under fire for hiring a long-time
controversial El Paso political activist Jaime O. Perez as his
chief of staff. On December 11, 2008 Perez announced his
resignation, effective in early 2009, and his intention to run for
City Council against incumbent Steve Ortega, although Cobos the
next day announced he would not accept Perez' resignation.[3] Earlier
in 2008 Perez asked County Attorney Jose Rodriguez for an opinion
on whether a county judge can resign and still vote on their
successor; Rodriguez affirmed that would be possible.[4]

Cobos' previous chief of staff, Travis Ketner, pled guilty to
several felonies and is considered a key source of information in
the FBI corruption investigation. The charging document to which
Ketner pled guilty indicated that Cobos hired Ketner at the urging
of former El Paso County Judge and well-known political operative
Luther Jones and that Ketner was hired for the explicit purpose of
securing bribes for Cobos and others.[5]

On December 12, 2008 Cobos held a news conference outside the
offices of the El Paso Times to deny rumors that he may resign as
county judge, and to attack the newspaper for an editorial that
wished he would resign. Cobos asked Times publisher and president
Ray Stafford and editorial writers Joe Muench and Charles Edgren to
debate him, which they did not do. He claimed that the Times is
"attempting to break me" and "control my votes and actions on the
Commissioners Court." Cobos attempted to enter the Times building,
but was blocked by newspaper employees. He also banged on the
building's glass doors, and eventually slipped a letter with his
complaints through the slit between the doors. At the news
conference Cobos also refused to answer questions about whether the
rumors of his resignation might be related to Ketner's allegation
and the FBI investigation, although he did state that he had not
spoken to any federal agency in a year and a half.[6]

2010
County Judge Election

Some politicians rumored to be interested in replacing Cobos as
county judge include City Council members Susie Byrd, Eddie
Holguin, Steve Ortega, former county judge candidates Barbara
Perez, Cobos' chief of staff Jaime Perez, and County Commissioners
Veronica Escobar, Willie Gandara, and Dan Haggerty.[7][8]

Sergio Coronado, who ran against Cobos in the 2006 primary,
declared in July 2009 that he will run again in the 2010
primary.[9] Larry
Medina, a former City Council member and former County
Commissioner, announced in October 2009 that he will run against
Cobos in the 2010 primary.[10]